January 18, 2023

Further 26

Wednesday

I began with a round of sanding on the sidedecks and foredeck, sanding the first round of fairing filler and new laminate, respectively, as needed.  At the foredeck, I also sanded flush a small raised molded area that had housed a centerline cleat, as the owner told me he didn’t plan on reinstalling the cleat, so I could now fill the holes.

Once the boat was cleaned up, I had to choose what direction to go.   Earlier in the week, I’d been thinking that as soon as I got the sidedecks more or less back together (which they now were), I’d get on deck and start the core repairs on the coachroof, mainly one moderate section on the starboard side.  But now I felt I was on a roll with the sidedecks, and that it would be best and most efficient to continue with the work at the after ends, so I turned to patterns for the decks outboard of the cockpit.

I planned four layers of new laminate here:  two initial layers to cover the core, bring it up to the proper level vis a vis the adjacent decks, and wrap over and tie into the inner coaming surfaces and the short toerail section where the old winch island had connected; then two additional layers to extend onto the prepared edges of the adjacent decks and complete the repair.  I began with the patterns I’d made for the core earlier, and with them laid out in place made some notations and modifications so I could cut fiberglass to wrap over the edge and up the side of the toerail.

Next, I made paper patterns of the larger pieces for the top, tracing the outlines of the previously-prepared deck edges as needed.

I knew there was too much work to cut the fiberglass and laminate these large sections before the end of the day, so before I got to the fiberglass cutting I decided to go ahead and apply a second round of filler to the sidedecks, and a first layer on the foredeck repair, which kept the work moving on those areas, and opened up the whole next day to focus first on finishing up the material cutting and installing the new laminate on the quarters.  On the sidedecks, this fairing round focused on the known low spots, mainly at the deck edges inboard and out and a few areas around some of the structural repairs.  First, though, I filled the bolt holes on the foredeck with another epoxy mixture, as I’d done elsewhere on the decks earlier.

Now I could spend the rest of the day cutting fiberglass for the large sections near the cockpit, starting with the first two layers on each side.  I cut each layer into two more manageable sections, staggering the seams well between the layers.  I test-fit the pieces on each side (only the starboard side shown in the photos) and made some minor re-cuts as needed for a better fit.  Next time, I hoped (and planned) to finish cutting the final two layers, and install all four on each side.

Total time billed on this job today: 7 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 29°, overcast, dew point 28°. Forecast for the day: Mostly cloudy, 43°